Stereotypical Me
by twilightdazzle
Summary: One Saturday. One empty school. Eight teens. It's just the recipe for drama. But maybe their feelings will make it something more, and maybe detention isn't so horrible after all. Sasu/Saku. Neji/Ten. Shika/Ino. Naru/Hina.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: They were just eight teens stuck in an empty school for eight hours. But when you have a whole school to yourself, you're not going to treat it like another detention session. Exploring the school, they also explore the truths about one another and learn that their designated titles don't exactly fit anymore. And with that newfound knowledge comes the flare of old feelings and new ones. Romance blossoms amongst the eight teens, and they must decide whether they are willing to give into it.**

**A/N: Enjoy, hopefully, and tell me what you think.**

**~twilightdazzle~**

December had always been a beautiful month in Konoha, but December fourth was just plain spectacular. Dawn's fingertips were just beginning to stretch over the horizon in brilliant pinks, oranges, and pale yellows, and though the sun was beginning to illuminate the surrounding world, soft gray clouds dotted the sky. Snow, soft and purely white, glittered as it floated softly to the ground, piling up to build gently sloping mounds.

Tenten wondered how it could be so beautiful outside when it was such a horrid day. Her mother's obnoxiously loud babble filled the small confines of the small silver Porsche, and the chocolate haired teen slid her eyes shut and proceeded to breathe in deeply through her nose. For once, she just wished it was silent enough for her to hear her own thoughts. Or at least filled with actual conversation between her and her parents.

"No, Darling," her mother said in a falsely cheery voice, dripping with sarcasm and malice. "That's not what I said last night…..Then you obviously weren't listening…..I'm taking your daughter to school that's what I'm doing…..I know it's a Saturday."

'Your daughter' was a phrase her parents often used when speaking to eachother, or rather, argued with eachother. They threw it around at random when they tried to make a nasty jab at the other, something Tenten considered foolish because neither one of them ever showed any interest in her outside those arguments.

And it was a particularly hurtful phrase as well. She definitely wasn't made of stone. In fact, she was predominantly soft hearted, but she tried awfully hard to retain a solid core. Nearly all of her parent's sharp words and accusations at eachother, however, cut more deeply into her with each passing day.

And while she didn't gain much recognition at home, she managed to attain a well known status at school. It was her success in sports (captain of the volleyball team, track star, and tennis champion) that ultimately led to her social success, as well as her bubbly and bright personality, but her achievements weren't anything special to her doctor parents. Actually, she was sure they didn't even know about her talents.

The school finally came into view, and Tenten let a frown contort her pretty features, her cinnamon eyes narrowing at the unpleasant sight of the cream colored building. It was just eight hours, just one-third of a day, she reminded herself as she opened the passenger door and stepped out into the frigid air and slammed the car door shut.

Despite her attempt to look upon the situation in an optimistic light, there was still that sinking feeling of dread in her stomach, and she sighed deeply.

"Mom, don't forget…" she trailed off when she noticed her mother already driving away, now yelling at her father through the cell phone.

Saddened eyes followed the car until it was out of sight before turning to face the empty parking lot, and the slim girl made her way through it, alone.

********************

Naruto Uzumaki liked to play the drums, and he couldn't resist beating his fingers against the fraying leather of his steering wheel to the rock tunes pounding from his stereo. Today, the music was loud and angry, only because he wasn't in the best of moods and needed to find some way to vent his emotions. To him, music was the safest and most entertaining outlet.

At school, he wasn't at all dark and moody. In fact, he was quite cheerful, needing the energy to pull off his daily round of pranks, but at home it was a totally different story.

After his father died four years ago, his mother's health had spiraled downward, and at this point he wasn't sure if it was mental so much as physical. Every day off from school was dedicated to watching her, making sure she was comfortable and well taken care of. It was a heavy and tiresome responsibility for a seventeen year old boy to take on, but he was more than willing to make the sacrifice.

It often scared him to think of life after high school. Where would he go? What would his mom do? And though he hated to acknowledge it, he had this inkling of a feeling that he wouldn't be going anywhere, that he was forever trapped in the confines of this city to rot away. And that scared him the most.

Flipping his windshield wipers on to clear the glass of the snow, he leaned back casually against the bumpy seat. The school parking lot was empty, save for a silver Porsche speeding toward the exit and a figure of a girl walking up the steps to the school.

As the car passed him, the stern looking woman inside pulled a cell phone away from her ear, looked at it with an incredulous expression, and chunked it onto the passenger seat angrily. The blonde, spiky haired teen released an amused snort. Those damn rich folk were so dramatic.

Parking his truck near the front of the building, he ran a calloused hand down his weary face before peering up at the school. He really didn't want to do this today, not with his mom at home alone. He remained sitting for a few more minutes as the last crash of symbols abruptly ended the song, and the comforting smell of leather, smoke, and cheeseburgers lingered in his nostrils.

"Here it goes," he mumbled to himself, stepping out of the car and walking forward.

********************

Tense and rigid were the only two adjectives that could describe Mr. Haruno at the moment. Tired and ashamed were the only two that could describe his daughter.

Sakura sat upright, hands folded neatly in her lap and head turned away from her father to watch the car swallow up the miles of pavement. Her soft pink hair was gathered into a low pony tail at the base of her neck, and the tips brushed the middle of her spine atop her thick red jacket, leaving a few strands to fall out against the side of her fair skinned face. The tension in the car made her fidgety, crackling and sizzling in the air between her and the man beside her. She silently pleaded with him to put the pedal to the metal and free her from this discomfort.

Sneaking a glance to the left, she eyed the stranger of a man she called her father. He was always so proper and formal, straight backed never slouching, organized and never spontaneous. Her mother was the exact same way, prim and poised like there was always someone important watching. And of course, being the perfect couple that they were, they also had to have the perfect daughter.

Feeling suddenly stressed, Sakura wrapped her hand around her wrist and touched her pinky and thumb together out of habit and took in silent, deep breaths. She couldn't do this right now; she needed to calm down before things got out of hand again, even if she was in recovery.

A wave of relief washed over her as her dad pulled into the school's nearly vacant parking lot and cut the engine. The silence was deafening, her father's unsaid words already lingering in the small space of air between them. When he spoke, he didn't turn to face her.

"I can't believe we're doing this, Sakura," he stated tersely, deep voice rumbling throughout the confines of the car. "We taught you so much better than this, and for you to go and-"

The teen rolled her viridian eyes at his remarks and without a note of hesitation swung the door open and stepped out into the biting cold. With her bag clutched tightly to her chest, she marched with her head down against the wind across the parking lot.

"Sakura!" Her father's voice carried out across the pavement but waned in the wind. "Sakura!"

She shut him out, knowing perfectly well that she would get another lecture about respect when she got home. All she worried about now, however, was this.

********************

The amazingly boring Konoha scenery flashed by as Sasuke sped recklessly down the highway. Today was such a waste of his time, such a damn nuisance. But it seemed like most of his days were like that. Nowhere to go and no one to see. The only real person there was happened to be his brother.

Dark eyes narrowed at the road ahead, and his lips pressed into a flat line at the thought of his nearly identical older brother, older by a full six years. They didn't hold the typical brotherly bond, there was no playful bantering or tight knit link between them, just anger and resentment. He supposed it was all because of the incident five years ago, the incident that had robbed him of his parents and childhood happiness.

And it had robbed him of other things too, like the friends he had cherished and the good times he had been destined to have in the future. Some things just weren't meant to be, he supposed. The Uchiha also wished that this Saturday wasn't meant to be spent with a bunch of morons that would probably end up being the most annoying sort on earth. It was just his sort of luck.

Zipping his black mustang through the school's gates, he sighed for what felt like the hundredth time since he woke that morning and chose a random parking spot to slide into. Dropping his head against the steering wheel, he groaned at his stupidity when a soft jolt of pain ran through his forehead.

Glancing quickly into the rearview mirror and lifting his jet black hair away from his forehead, he was annoyed to see a small spot of red on his hairline. Scowling, he jumped from his car, stuck his hands deep into his pockets, and moved on.

********************

"Don't use that damn tone, Boy," Shikaku Nara snapped, reaching across the console of his truck to give his son a sharp smack to the back of his head.

Shikamaru didn't flinch, simply ducked his head slightly and ignored the pain that erupted at the base of his skull. It was normal, his father's violent behavior, and Shikamaru didn't utter a word. Things weren't supposed to bother the down-to-earth teen, so he made sure they didn't. Besides, if any word or sound was to slip passed the younger Nara's lips, he would surely pay the price for it.

"Getting me up at seven thirty on a Saturday," Shikaku mumbled under his breath before shooting a glare at his son. "What kind of trouble did you get into now, huh?"

Shikamaru didn't answer, just rested his head in his palm and continued to stare blandly out the window. He just wanted his dad to shut up and leave him the hell alone. Was that so much to ask?

"Hey, answer me you piece of shit." Now it was Shikaku's fist that came into contact with the side of his face, and Shikamaru's head slapped against the glass of the window.

Withholding a stream of curses and a moan of pain, Shikamaru discreetly rubbed the right side of his head, now pissed by the pain throbbing on his temples. The truck noisily pulled to an abrupt stop in front of the school, and Shikamaru wasted no time in climbing out.

"Don't expect a ride after later," Shikaku called out the window as he began pulling away.

Shikamaru didn't expect one. He didn't expect anything.

********************

This. Was. So. Awkward.

The thought rang through Hinata's mind, shouting and jumping around like a maniacal child. This car was too small for both her and Neji, the strained silence so tight and taut the dark haired girl thought it would snap in her face. Though he was her cousin and she personally didn't have any problem with him, she got this feeling that he didn't really like her. In fact, she was certain that he downright hated her. And she didn't even know why.

In her cousin's defense, Neji didn't have the nicest childhood. He never knew his mother, which only pushed him closer to his father. Hinata remembered how close they had been, how much Neji loved him. Tragically, Hizashi was diagnosed with cancer when Neji was ten and hadn't even made it to the end of that year. The cancer had been caught too late, and nothing could be done. Neji withdrew. Even after he came to live with Hinata and her family, he isolated himself and became colder, harsher. Hinata honestly couldn't blame him. Losing the only person you loved could really do some damage.

Hinata knew personally. She had, after all, lost her mother when she was five.

As soon as Neji parked, he removed himself from the car quickly and without a word to Hinata, who was left sitting alone. She watched her star-athlete relative stalk away before following slowly. The empty school sort of spooked the small girl, but it was fascinating all the same.

As she walked through the main hall to the library, she marveled at the way the sun poured through the wall of glass. It splashed various shades of orange and yellows across the opposite wall, and she stopped to admire this for a moment. The whole idea of the glass wall was magnificent. It gave a clear view of the steps that led down into the courtyard, and the large fountain, and the patch of forever green shrubs that circled around it and opened on both ends for access. Snow, soft and small as crystals, caught the perfect glint from the sky and made the area alive with light and glitter.

She wondered why she had never noticed this before. Maybe because if she stopped in the middle of high school traffic, people might also think the princess whose daddy gives her everything might also be crazy.

But what did they know. They didn't know that her daddy only showered her with gifts to keep her out of his way, that he didn't really love her the way he should have.

They only saw what they wanted to.

********************

"Yes, that would be marvelous," Mrs. Yamanaka said with a sickeningly sweet laugh into her cell phone, eliciting a scowl from her pretty blonde daughter. "Oh, of course she'll be thrilled. I'll tell her. Kiss, kiss. Bye."

"What will I be thrilled about?" Ino immediately snapped when her mother snapped her cell closed and turned her striking blue eyes to the passenger seat.

With a radiant smile pulling back her perfectly pink lips, Mrs. Yamanaka eyed Ino, her nearly exact replica. They were the same from the graceful sweep of their dark lashes to the faultlessly sheared ends of their long blonde hair. Mrs. Yamanaka was often mistaken for Ino's sister, which didn't sit well with the latter. Being the same as her mother wasn't a compliment to Ino at all.

"Mai booked you for another shooting this afternoon at five," Mrs. Yamanaka stated, tossing her high ponytail over her shoulder.

Ino's brilliant cerulean eyes narrowed, and she pursed her plump lips together. "Mom, I thought you said today would be my day to relax." She made sure to enunciate the word mom.

"Darling, if you hadn't gotten Saturday detention then you would have been able to relax," Mrs. Yamanaka stated, unfazed by her daughter's attitude.

She knew Ino was brash, upfront, strong willed, and often rude, and it didn't intimidate her in the slightest. After all, Ino had to have gotten those particular characteristics from someone.

Ino huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, blinking back the frustrated tears that were pooling above her lower row of lashes. Another day of pictures, another round of blinding lights making her head hurt. Though she had everything needed to make it to 'the top', Ino didn't want to be a model as badly as her mother wanted her to. She found no interest in being advertised so carelessly and being judged so quickly as just another stupid anorexic girl. Because she wasn't.

All she wanted was to be happy, and if felt like she was being pulled in several different directions. Her mom wanted her to shower others in her beauty. Her friends wanted her to act a certain way and walk the halls of the school without any remorse of her actions. And the whole school wanted nothing more than to see her fall down. So was the cycle of Ino Yamanaka's life.

Maybe if she wasn't so cold and domineering than there would be more people, nicer people, who would stand behind her. She did, however, have a large portion of the school population sitting in the palm of her hand. Most girls wanted to be her, bathe in the world that was popular and beautiful, and most guys wanted to do her, dive into the girl who was popular and beautiful.

"Ino, dear," her mother drawled tiredly. "Not this again. It'll only help you." Ino was glad for the curtain of gold that shielded her face from the older woman's exasperated eyes. "Besides, the only thing you should be worried about right now is this detention session. Imagine what kind of foul people will be there, ill dressed and horrid."

Ino eyed herself, with her black leather jacket adorned with a fur fringe and her black leather boots. Everything about her screamed fashion and elegance. The jeans she wore were designer, the two rings circling around her fingers an ungodly price. She would stick out like a sore thumb, not that it bothered her much.

"More good news," Mrs. Yamanaka said in a sing song voice as she looked down at her text message, which Ino found very annoying considering the high pitch of her voice. "You've been booked for runway next Saturday at the mall. It's a new designer, very hot, didn't say the name though."

"If this designer was so damn hot than her name wouldn't fail to be mentioned," Ino snapped, springing from the car before it had even come to a complete stop.

Mrs. Yamanaka simply smiled brightly and waved. "Remember five o'clock."

Ino pointedly ignored her and raised her head as she crunched through the snow dotted sidewalk. She was fuming, which showed clear in the exaggerated swing of her arms and stiff set of her neck. There it was again, plans about her made without actually consulting her.

Tearing through the halls, her hair billowed out behind her, and as she neared the library she forced herself to calm down. No use looking like a fool in front of the people she would be spending the next eight hours with, even if they were damn fools themselves.

Nose pointed slightly into the air, she pulled open one of the thick double doors and marched straight in, stopping in complete disbelief at the sight before her.

"You have got to be shitting me."

**A/N: Wow, I've had this first chapter just sitting there for months and I decided I wanted to post the story. In case you didn't notice, I drew the general idea of this story from The Breakfast Club, but I'm going to add my own twists and background stories. This chapter was jsut an introduction to all the characters to give a little idea of what they are like.**

**So really, I want to know what you think. There will be hook ups, and yes I know in real life people don't just get together in eight hours but you never know. : ) ****The pairings will be Neji/Ten, Sasu/Saku, Shika/Ino, and Naru/Hina. I know Ino seems like a total bitch, but she gets better.....I think. Haha. And I know I didn't get as in depth with Neji as I did with the others, but I will.**

**So should I keep going?**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** **Finally! Chapter 2! Yay!**

"Language, Mrs. Yamanaka," Tsunade, the school principal, said sternly as she strode through the library doors, a large ring of blackish blue circling her right eye. "Go ahead, take a seat."

Ino raised an eyebrow and concealed a snicker before plopping down at one of the ten long tables situated in the middle of the library and each sporting a small stack of notebook paper and a few pencils. The other seven teens were already seated at their own tables, also looking about at the other occupants in something akin to surprise. Well, accept for maybe Sasuke, who had rested his head on his arms from where he sat at one of the back tables.

Neji darted nearly transparent eyes about with a smirk playing across his strong face. Never in his mind would he have thought that he would be in the same room with _these_ people again. It was almost amusing, the awkward strain in the air and the fidgeting of his fellow classmates. Ino didn't look uncomfortable at all, sashaying straight to one of the middle tables and placing her odd shaped purse daintily on the table, gazing up at Tsunade with a mock sweet expression. The dark haired athlete snorted inwardly at her obvious attitude.

Perceptive eyes continued to wander, passing uninterestedly over a close-eyed Shikamaru and apathetic Sasuke. Hinata was twiddling with her thumbs again, and he felt an eyebrow twitch in annoyance. Sakura was sitting upright, hands folded neatly on top of the table. Still so damn perfect. Neji rolled his eyes. And then he saw Tenten.

She was facing forward, so he only saw half of her face. The slight upturn of her nose and the soft curve of her cheekbone were all so familiar, and he noticed that she still kept her hair long…..and shiny. Subconsciously, he wondered if it still felt soft and if it would still fall through his fingers like water.

The intensity of his gaze practically penetrated her skin, and she turned warily to meet his nearly knee weakening stare. A smirk began to pull back his lips, igniting his handsome face with a more mischievous light. He tossed a teasing wink in her direction, and anger flared in her system. Shooting a hard glare back, she whipped back around to her previous position, shifting at the uncomfortable bubble of emotions in her stomach. Stupid boy. Stupid hot boy.

"Well," Tsunade began, sweeping her light chestnut eyes across the scattered adolescences. "I'm sure you understand why you're all here. This will be you holding room for the next eight hours of your life." A small sardonic smirk twisted her full lips. "You'll be released at four, lunch at twelve, and I will come back to inform you of that. There will be no moving, no talking, and there is one bathroom pass to be used one person at a time."

Sasuke tapped his fingers on the table, his eyes not fixated on Tsunade but the girl sitting in the next row one desk in front of his. His eyes were drawn to her immediately, maybe because of the attention-grabbing shade of her hair, but he had been too familiar with her to be stunned by it, even if they hadn't spoken in half a decade.

No, there was something else about her that made his eyes keep darting back. She was so much more mature looking, the baby fat having fallen from her face now that they were juniors in high school. Sure, he'd seen her in the halls, but up close he could see everything. She was a bit more pale looking than she ought to have been, he thought. When they were kids, her skin was always aglow with a naturally soft tan, and now it was just a few shades short of alabaster. And her face in general was a little thin, cheek bones more prominent than maybe they should have been.

But her eyes were still strikingly green, complimenting her hair and soft features greatly. Like always, her posture was poised, but as he looked more closely he saw the slight hunch in her shoulders and droop of her head, as if she were tired. He wondered if anyone else noticed the fragility of her figure and vulnerable aura that surrounded her.

He realized that no one would have noticed because he was the only one who was watching her.

"Also," Tsunade's voice broke through his thoughts. "You will need to write an essay on who exactly you think you are and what exactly makes you so special. Disrupting my school." The last part she added under her breath and forced an obviously fake and taunting smile. "Any questions?"

Naruto raised his hand, the sleeve of his worn brown jacket sliding along his muscled arm. Tsunade's eyes narrowed, too familiar with his joking nature to ever trust the words that spilled from his mouth.

"What, Uzumaki?" she snapped, placing her hands on the graceful swell of her hips.

"What happened to your eye?"

A round of ill suppressed giggles and chuckles bubbled in the large room, and Naruto leaned back in his chair casually, a charming smile dancing across his face. Tenten, despite her attempts, flushed a deep scarlet and bit her lip. Tsunade scowled before turning sharply and exiting the room, muttering a curse of "damn kids" to herself.

The metal door closed with a sharp and resounding clink, drowning the teens in an abysmal and almost frightening silence. It was so thick, so tight, Hinata feared she would stop breathing entirely. Soft eyes darting around nervously, she realized that her view was limited because she was sitting in the front. It was then that she caught, from the tight corner of her eye, a shock of yellow hair directly to her right.

Tilting her head as subtly as possible, she let her eyes roam _his _tanned face. His eyebrows were lifted slightly, staring at the lined paper before him in what looked to her like amusement, as if the paper were just another joke. She had always liked his strong yet playful expressions.

She guessed it started when they were kids and everything was still perfect, and they were all still perfect. There was this exuberant and exciting aura that had always possessed Naruto when they were younger, and Hinata, having been so unused to anything like that in her strict and flat household, had instantly been attracted. She'd only been about five when this whole crush thing started, but that was the beauty of it. To be so young and thrive on such strong emotions was exhilarating. And those emotions hadn't faded in the slightest.

But the friendships had. Oh, they had been absolutely demolished. It only took one person to recede from the group, Neji being the first, and it was like this giant rift formed, an immense void that they all began to slowly sink into. They had only been about eleven then. Then it was Shikamaru, who had suddenly started to declare everything as troublesome and boring. Tenten followed, then Ino, then Sasuke, and Naruto, and Sakura.

And she was left alone, not by choice and not by preference. It was inevitable, the reality of her solitude. Even though they had been the tightest group to pass through Konoha in the last fifteen years, there was always this inkling of apprehension that burned in her stomach, like fate was purposely working against them. And she had wanted to keep that circle together so badly, but she had been too afraid to stand up and fight, tell them that breaking apart won't help their problems. But Hinata had never had to fight for anything in her life, and she was terrified to have to start over something so meaningful.

Nostalgia struck her hard in the chest, and an onslaught of fond memories played in her mind. Fighting to keep the smile off her face, she retrieved a paper and stared at it as if it were invisible. Some memories were just too good to let go of at the moment.

********************

So fucking troublesome.

Shikamaru wanted nothing more than to grab hold of the table and smash his head against it until the clock just jumped to four o'clock. In fact, he was physically restraining himself from doing so at the moment by burying his head in his arms and clutching the edge of the wooden table as if life depended on it. Technically, it kind of did seeing that hitting his head could cause some major neural damage if he was aggressive enough.

Cruel and unusual torture suddenly made more sense to him now. It had been a whole hour and forty- five minutes since the large metal doors had slammed shut with that fate sealing bang, and the dark haired teen was seriously beginning to wonder if his sanity would be completely fried by the time he would walk out of this hell hole.

Though he wasn't much of a talkative being himself, he hated absolute silence. And this room, though large, was filled to the brim with it. Every tick from the clock above the librarian's desk was like a shock of thunder, and the pecking of cell phone buttons from bratty, blonde, and beautiful two rows ahead practically made him twitch.

Dashing an aggravated eye in her direction, he felt all sense of frustration just diminish once dark eyes caught sight of the golden beauty.

Contrary to popular belief, Shikamaru was actually an immensely intelligent young man; he simply didn't put forth any effort. And as an intelligent young man, he knew better than to let things like her luscious lips and smoky eyes blind him from her nasty, cruel nature. But being intelligent didn't entirely stop him from being a young man.

So, because it wasn't like it would affect anything, he watched in something akin to wonder as she tossed her sleek mane over her shoulder, revealing the long stretch of her shoulder that was left for viewing by her off-the-shoulder blouse. It was white and loose, not so clingy and showy as her usual shirts, and gave her a softer and more approachable appearance.

It was deliciously appealing.

Eyes darkening even further, he watched her grip on her cell tighten enough to cause her hand to shake, and he raised an eyebrow. Half expecting it to snap in half, he leaned forward slightly in humored interest. She bent to angrily shove the electronic device into her purse, now resting on the floor. Before a solid curtain of hair fell forward to block her face, he was certain that he'd seen the glimmer of a tear on her cheek, and suddenly his interest wasn't very humorous anymore.

********************

Okay, so Tsunade's rule of 'Do not move' was officially blown to shit now.

Tenten, leaning her head on her hand in complete and utter boredom, flashed her cinnamon colored eyes about the room. Ino had stomped off some minutes ago with her phone pressed to her ear, basically initiating the overall movement. Naruto disappeared abruptly for several minutes before Tenten's eyes finally found him sitting atop a windowsill, staring out across the snow covered school grounds. Shikamaru hadn't moved, no surprise, and Hinata pulled out what looked to be a sketch pad and was sketching away with a dark pencil. Sakura was drifting through the bookshelves, and Sasuke was….stalking her? The brown haired girl struggled to hide the smile playing at her lips as the supposedly cold Uchiha followed the rosette's every movement with dark eyes before standing and moving to the bookshelves as well. He was absolutely smitten.

"Why the smiling?"

The deep voice smooth with masculine velvet sent a series of flutters down Tenten's spine. She'd watched everyone in the room except him because she already knew where he was and what he was doing. He was watching her, his gaze intense enough to make her feel naked and shifty. The most horrible part of it was that the nakedness didn't feel one bit wrong. It felt…good, the tingles and shivers, the bolts of electric energy shooting through her stomach.

Swallowing roughly, Tenten managed to turn and face the young man with a relatively hard stare poised in her eyes. He was smirking, as usual, and the girl was struck with sudden need for his lips. Kami, she would never forget those lips. Those eyes. Those arms around her. Those hands digging deep into her hair, running down her back, tracing the curve of her breast.

Dating the Hyuuga a year before was undoubtedly the most regretted, amazing thing she'd ever done. He'd already had a reputation for not being committed to any relationship, but feelings from the past flared up in Tenten when he blatantly flirted with her during class one day, and she wasn't going to ignore them. And it wasn't much later that she made the biggest mistake of her life; she fell in love with him.

And then she let him break her heart.

She caught him cheating on her and didn't do a damn thing, didn't scream at him and didn't even give him a dirty look. He was practically having sex with his lips with a prettier, more sexual girl behind the school gym. Tenten had been walking aimlessly, turned the corner, locked eyes with Neji for a few seconds, and then walked away. She wondered if he could hear her heart breaking because she sure as hell felt it.

To say the relationship ended on bad terms wasn't exactly the way to put it. There were basically no terms. It just ended. The two teens never spoke to eachother after that, never officially ended anything, but the breakup was an unspoken deal. Yet, the Hyuuga bastard still found the nerve to wink at her every now and then and toss smirks so carelessly in her direction. Didn't he know that it only succeeded in sending painful quivers through her chest?

"Well, I'm not smiling anymore," she finally mumbled to herself, her words more than audible to the young man's sharp ears.

She turned away from him, her hair swinging sharply to the side, and he felt another cool shudder lacerating up and down his spine. This always happened with her so near.

"Is there…is there anything I can do to help that" Shit. Did he just stutter? Neji Hyuuga didn't stutter. While he silently screamed at himself and fought the heat that steadily rose in his cheeks, he also waited impatiently for that warm smile and those bright eyes.

Instead, he got another heated glare. She was pretty scary when she was pissed.

"You know damn well that you're the last person who can help me with anything, Neji," she hissed, struggling to control her anger enough so that no one would hear their conversation. Funny, she called it anger, but it felt more like hurt.

Neji blinked before narrowing his eyes too. The difficulty of this woman was amazing. Usually, no one resisted his advances and charms, despite his cold attitude, and he hated how her stubbornness appealed to him.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked through clenched teeth, light eyes narrowing in on the long haired girl swiveled around in her wooden chair.

She stood swiftly, standing several inches short of the male but trying not to look intimidated by his obvious confidence and strength. His eyes, despite their somewhat transparent appearance, were fueled with intensity, and her anger diminished as she was swept up in the sight of him. If only she could touch him, just brush her hand along his face….

"I'm going to go talk to Hinata," she said softly, hurt ringing throughout her words.

She made to move around him, but his hand shot out to grasp her wrist firmly. A flash of thrills shot through her body, and the heat from his body crashed over hers in waves, accumulating into a giant mass in the core of her stomach. Oh no, not this again.

"Why are you making me the bad guy?" he whispered angrily, pulling her only inches away from his face, his hot breath blowing back the few strands of loose hair that fell into her face.

Fresh tears burned somewhere in her eyes, and she prayed that they weren't visible. Cheeks hot and mouth dry, she managed to respond with the most sincere answer possible. "Isn't that what you are?"

His eyes hardened for a split second while his grip loosened, and with her eyes cast downward she took the opportunity to escape. Her wrist slid slowly out of his fingers, their fingertips the last thing to touch.

********************

Humming a soft tune to herself, Sakura happily let her fingers dance over the cracked spines of the library books as she drifted along down the row. There was something about the crinkling sound of the old pages and the crisp smell of new books that excited the young girl to no ends. She supposed it was one thing her parents had pushed her into doing that she hadn't totally minded. Reading was like an escape into new worlds, worlds where things didn't have to be perfect and it was actually okay. She longed for a world like that.

Soft eyes darted through the shelves to the spot where Sasuke Uchiha was sitting alone and utterly silent….and unmistakably gorgeous. He'd always been quite the looker, even at the ages where it didn't matter, but she had never imagined that he would turn out like _that_. He was nothing short of breathtaking, with the perfectly structured face and finely chiseled body.

It was completely over Sakura's head as to why he spent all his time alone. In the halls, he was always hounded by girls, but the rosette had never actually seen him with any of them. In fact, she never saw him with anyone. There were stories, of course, that offered explanations of his unusual attachment to solitude. They ranged from devil's child, to beautiful murderer, to the sufferer of a horrendous past.

Sakura, being the smart girl that she was, assumed it had something to do with the death of his parents. He hadn't been amazingly social before they died, just more social, but Sakura had never gotten the real story. Frankly, she thought it to be no one else's business but his own.

It was still upsetting though, the fact that they had once been good friends (or something like it) and now were absolutely nothing. She, Naruto, and Sasuke had been exceptionally close back in the day, and there was still something in her heart that couldn't be replaced when that friendship was severed.

Once again, her eyes were unwillingly dragged in his direction, and a disappointed frown marred her peaceful face when she saw that he was no longer there. Damn, he had made her eyes feel good for a while.

Blowing back an annoying piece of hair that had fallen in her face, she rounded the corner of the shelf in hopes that she would spot him again. Her eyes were locked on the ground, and she was met with the sight of a strong chest when she raised them. Gasping softly in surprise, she took a few stumbling steps backwards, only to find her path blocked by a short stack of books. She immediately lost her balance, and her feet flew out from beneath her.

Though her landing was nearly soundless, her ass hurt like hell, and she groaned. "Ow."

Sasuke blinked, not intending to scare her or hurt her. Yet he still couldn't help but wonder how someone could make such an ungraceful tumble look so damn adorable. Her hands were pressed palm down on each side of her, supporting her weight, and her hair was the slightest bit tossled. Her eyes were slightly unfocused from the fall, and when she had scrunched her nose in a moment of pain, he almost smiled.

"Sorry," he mumbled, offering his hand to her.

The fallen girl cocked her head up at him in a manner so endearing it immediately rivaled her previous position, and his breath caught slightly, only slightly. She seemed surprised to see him, but a short laugh bubbled from her none the less, and she accepted his help. His hand basically swallowed hers, and he marveled at their size. So small, but they still managed a perfect fit into his.

"It's okay," she said with a genuine smile after he effortlessly pulled her upward. "I have my moments." She brushed the back of her jeans as she looked up at him. "I hate it when people leave those damn books lying around."

His lips quirked upward for a moment, an action that didn't go unnoticed by the girl before him.

"What?" she asked curiously, the light hearted smile never faltering.

"I never thought I'd see the day Sakura Haruno cursed a book," he replied, the light in his eyes indicating that he was joking, something he did just about never.

A bell like laugh burst from her plush lips, and his stomach flipped uncharacteristically. He actually had to refrain from clutching his abdomen at the alien feeling. But it was pleasant enough. He kind of….liked it.

Sakura stared out at the young man from beneath her fuchsia lashes after her laughter subsided. The way his dark hair fell forward into his eyes made him look so dark, so alluring. And the half smile half smirk thing he was doing made her fingertips tingle. Oh Kami, why did her legs suddenly feel like jell-o?

She wasn't laughing anymore, bummer, but Sasuke caught the mischievous little grin she was trying to hide.

"What?" It was now him asking with curiosity, once again, something he never did.

She giggled. "I never thought I'd see the day Sasuke Uchiha actually smiled."

Sasuke couldn't help that his smirk/smile had more of a smile in it, and he was suddenly very thankful that some unknown force had propelled him out of his chair.

"Maybe we should pick these up," he stated, stepping past her to pick up the now scattered books. He allowed his shoulder to brush hers softly, and both teens suppressed the heated shudder that threatened to convulse their bodies.

Sakura bit her lip in absolute delight to withhold the squeal that was climbing up her throat. As her heart beat easily pushed past the record speed, she released a shaky breath. She was actually talking to Sasuke Uchiha! Oh, how detention was now her favorite school activity.

**A/N: Okay, wow, that was a long chapter. I'd been meaning to update sooner, but I was suddenly hounded with all this stuff to do….none of it fun either. So, I know Neji and Sasuke may seem a little out of character, but this is an AU fic so I thinks its okay. **

**Well, next chapter….yeah I have no idea yet. Haha. Definitely some Shika/Ino and Naru/Hina cause I haven't really had much of them yet…or at all. Idk. I forget. : ) And I also think that they'll be revealing why they got detention and stuff, and that's always fun for me. Yeah and sooner or later they'll be breaking out of the library for real fun. ; ) I'm just not sure what chappie yet. **

**I just hope you enjoy and keep reading. **


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